Lot Essay
In 1969 Baselitz first began to develop the technique which would dominate all his subsequent paintings; that is, the inversion of his subject-matter. By so doing he was committing himself to a considerably more challenging method of representation. "He had to capture in his mind's eye an inverted image of reality. This demanded, not least, a stricter discipline in his formal syntax...The first programmatic works that Baselitz painted in accordance with the new formula place the motifs in a dominant position on the canvas with an unequivocal clarity." (A. Franzke, Georg Baselitz, Munich 1989, p. 111)
In "Die Trauerseeschwalbe", Baselitz is still experimenting with pictorial forms. He deliberately avoids firm brush-strokes, but keeps the style fairly loose, prefering soft modelling within what is nonetheless a firm structure. He presents us with a brilliantly fresh image of a swallow in flight, surrounded by verdant foliage. Earthy, naturalistic colours predominate, and here the greens and browns hark back to Baselitz's rustic paintings of hunters and woodland scenes from the years 1965 to 1967.
As regards the subject-matter Franzke writes, "In the early 1970's Baselitz chooses themes that he came across by chance. This randomness tends to create a deceptive impression that they might be studies from nature; but all this apparent naturalness and spontaneity is the product of calculation. Whether the subject is birds - suggested by a friend's collection of photographs - or undergrowth, copses, interiors, eagles...he always succeeded in focusing attention on the brilliant subtlety of the application of the paint itself, so that the ostensible subject is seen as a means to an end, an unspecific pretext for a markedly detached encounter with the medium of painting." (ibid., p. 112)
Baselitz's fascination with painterly values lead him to adopt new methods constantly, and at the same time that "Die Trauerseeschwalbe" was painted he began his first "finger paintings". Indeed, "Die Trauerseeschwalbe", can be compared to "Haubentaucher", auctioned by Christie's, New York, in May of this year. The naturalistic palette and pictorial forms in both works are very close, and it is possible to see in "Die Trauerseeschwalbe" the beginning of a new stage of development in Baselitz's oeuvre.
In "Die Trauerseeschwalbe", Baselitz is still experimenting with pictorial forms. He deliberately avoids firm brush-strokes, but keeps the style fairly loose, prefering soft modelling within what is nonetheless a firm structure. He presents us with a brilliantly fresh image of a swallow in flight, surrounded by verdant foliage. Earthy, naturalistic colours predominate, and here the greens and browns hark back to Baselitz's rustic paintings of hunters and woodland scenes from the years 1965 to 1967.
As regards the subject-matter Franzke writes, "In the early 1970's Baselitz chooses themes that he came across by chance. This randomness tends to create a deceptive impression that they might be studies from nature; but all this apparent naturalness and spontaneity is the product of calculation. Whether the subject is birds - suggested by a friend's collection of photographs - or undergrowth, copses, interiors, eagles...he always succeeded in focusing attention on the brilliant subtlety of the application of the paint itself, so that the ostensible subject is seen as a means to an end, an unspecific pretext for a markedly detached encounter with the medium of painting." (ibid., p. 112)
Baselitz's fascination with painterly values lead him to adopt new methods constantly, and at the same time that "Die Trauerseeschwalbe" was painted he began his first "finger paintings". Indeed, "Die Trauerseeschwalbe", can be compared to "Haubentaucher", auctioned by Christie's, New York, in May of this year. The naturalistic palette and pictorial forms in both works are very close, and it is possible to see in "Die Trauerseeschwalbe" the beginning of a new stage of development in Baselitz's oeuvre.